Stuffed "8 Ball" Zucchini (loose recipe - make it your own!)
1. Rinse, drain and cook 1 cup dried quinoa according to directions and season however you’d like. I usually cook it ahead so I can let it sit and cool. The quinoa is looser and less sticky that way.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, chop a bunch of veggies (pick whatever you like!). I mix it up. This time I did broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, celery, bell pepper, the insides of the zucchini that I scraped out.
3. In a large pan, sauté olive oil, chopped garlic and onion for about 5 mins on med-high heat.
4. Add 1 lb ground turkey and and seasonings to the pan (I seasoned this batch with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and tarragon - season to your liking).
5. Once turkey is cooked, add chopped veggies and cook until veggies are just soft (don’t overlook them, you still want them to have some crunch).
6. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
7. Remove Turkey and veggie mixture from heat and stir in cooked quinoa.
8. Stuff the zucchini balls (you could also use bell peppers as zucchini balls can be hard to find) with turkey/quinoa/veggie mixture.
9. If you want, sprinkle a little Parmesan-Romano cheese on top.
10. Bake for approximately 20 mins at 350, until tender but not wrinkly or saggy. You want the squash or bell pepper to still be firm enough to hold the filling, but cooked enough to be tender.
11. Enjoy!
This dish is super flexible and can be adapted to your liking. Sometimes I use a different meat or skip the meat altogether and go vegetarian. I mix up the veggies depending on what’s in season and what we have on hand. Seasoning is also up to you - use salt, pepper and seasonings to your liking! These also make good leftovers. I love cutting them up and serving them cold over greens as a salad.
